Each year, more than $100 million in credit is fraudulently charged against Florida kids. The legislature is considering a bill that would block that by letting parents freeze theirs children’s identities.
Ashtavia Maddox was 18 when she left the foster care system and tried to move into her first apartment. But the complex denied her application. Then she tried to get a credit card, and finally a loan, but get couldn’t get either. Maddox says she eventually found out that’s because an identity thief had opened eight lines of credit in her name.
“Now four years after the first time I applied and I was denied I am still struggling to repair the damage that was done by the person who stole my identity,” Maddox said.
Venice Republican, Senator Nancy Detert is filing a bill that would give parents the option of paying $10 to put a freeze on their child’s identity until they decide to lift it or the child reaches adulthood. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam brought the proposal to Detert.
